


Lies Big Brothers Tell

by StrawhatsAndDelibirds



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-15 20:08:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13038498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawhatsAndDelibirds/pseuds/StrawhatsAndDelibirds
Summary: The best part of having a dumb little brother is getting to tell him dumb liesThe worst part is him believing your dumb liesbased on this post http://skygemspeaks.tumblr.com/post/158126804288/lies-that-portgas-d-ace-has-told-his-little





	1. Chapter 1

One of the things Ace came to find out about living with Luffy the fastest, is that if he couldn’t sleep, it was also your problem. Whenever the brat seemed to be having a hard time falling asleep, his mind seemed to wander and come across ideas of unfathomable stupidity. And because he must’ve been born without the part of the brain that keeps you from saying everything you’re thinking, he had to share it with whoever else he was with. It was one of the worst parts about having a little brother.

 

Luckily for him, since they never stopped moving, when night time hit, Luffy was usually out like a light until the sun came back up. And once he was out, nothing but the overwhelming need to pee or need to eat would wake him back up. Sabo had talked him out of seeing if lighting him on fire would wake him up, because they both had a sneaking suspicion that the answer would be no.

 

Tonight was not most nights. They both laid there on the floor, Ace trying to find sleep, and he was going to guess Luffy was deciding on how best to be a pain in the ass that night.

 

“Hey Ace, do you ever wonder what the moon is?” A stupid question that he could only hope he could deal with fast so he could get to sleep before Luffy got thinking about something even stupider, and kept them both up all night then complain about being tired the next morning.

 

“No. Go to bed, Luffy.” There was silence for a good second.

 

“Because what if it’s a big wheel of cheese, or meat! Ace what if the moon is made out of cheesey meat?! Ace!” It was too late. Luffy had gone and gotten himself all excited over something made up and dumb. He was going to have to think fast, or else the rest of the evening was going to be getting Luffy out of stupid spots because he tried to fling himself at the moon. 

 

“I don’t wonder what the moon is, because I already know what it is.” A lie, but neither of them had any solid proof otherwise. Dadan and any other bandit would just say something sarcastic and stupid, and Luffy would forget by the time they got to Makino, and Gramps just wouldn’t know anyways. 

 

“Really? What is it? Tell me! I wanna know!” Luffy jolted upwards to look at Ace, bouncing in place. 

 

“I’ll tell you, but you gotta promise that you’ll go to sleep after I do.” 

 

“I promise!”

 

“Do you pinky promise? Because if you’re lying, I get to cut off your pinky.” Ace threatened, because in all honesty, it’s pretty fun to do. Mostly because he knew that Luffy didn’t actually care but it made it seem more serious Luffy trying to be serious was probably one of the funniest things.

 

“I pinky promise!” He nodded seriously, bouncing over to cross pinkies and shake.    
  
“Okay, go lay down and I’ll tell you.” 

  
Luffy nodded, then bounced back to his spot, getting under his blanket.

 

“Okay, here’s the real truth about the moon.” Time to make something up. “You see, the moon’s just a big eyeball in the sky. It’s big and it’s sideways and it blinks really slow, that’s why it changes shape. That’s the the moon blinking. And it sits up there in the sky and makes sure everyone is sleeping. And if people are still up, it gets mad and curses them to be cranky the rest of the day until they sleep.”

 

“Oh! So that’s why you get so grumpy when you stay up all night!” He left out the part that it’s almost entirely his fault when he stays up all night, but it was late and this is probably what Dadan meant by picking your battles. He wanted to sleep more than he wanted to fight with Luffy over how much of an ass he can be.

 

“That’s exactly why. You got it in one good job.” He could tell that Luffy was pleased by being right about something he didn’t want to fight him on by the soft sound of his giggling. 

 

“So does that mean that Dadan doesn’t sleep at night? What about Mayor Woodslap? He’s really grumpy too. Even grumpier than you most of the time. Do you think he ever sleeps?” Luffy muse on, excited about this new life fact that he learned on this night. 

 

“Luffy, did you forget the promise you just made? You’re gonna piss off the moon and get us both cursed. Then we’ll be even grumpier than those old geezers and no one’s gonna be happy about it.”

 

There was silence. 

 

“You’re right. We can talk about it in the morning.” He was really hoping that by then he would forget. Because Ace was probably going to forget by then and have no idea what the hell he was talking about. Every word he said was pulled out of his ass and there was no way he was going to remember. “Night Ace!”

 

Luffy went silent for a split second, then started snoring. Thank god this was over. He had won the battle, but he was afraid of the war to come. He has a sinking suspicion that he accidentally started something way bigger than he was ever going to want to deal with. He should’ve said something else, like it was just a stupid shiny rock in the sky or something just as ridiculous. He’d be sure to keep his lies more outlandish and harder to believe so there’d be no follow up questions. 

 

He’d keep that in mind for next time. For now he just had to hope for no follow ups, and enjoy the quiet night Luffy promised him. 


	2. Chapter 2

Luffy was acting off. He was acting weird, but not in the way that most people would see it as weird. Today he was kinda quiet, and didn’t seem all that there. It was almost like he was lost in thought, which would make this all the more stranger, because Ace was pretty sure that Luffy’s thoughts were few and far in between.

 

Thinking about it, it was probably more likely that that look was just gas. It wouldn’t be the first time that he fell for it. Ace had been burned by that before and had Luffy burp in his face and then go back to being his stupid self.

 

But the question was if he would bite the bullet and ask what he was thinking about. He had to wonder what was going to be worse, Luffy burping in his face or hearing whatever stupid thought that’s going through his head. This was going to be his problem either way because if he didn’t go to Luffy, he’d have to hear whatever more developed situation he had.

 

He groaned. Being the big brother really sucked sometimes. But there was no one else to deal with this, so he unfortunately had to be responsible.

 

“Hey, Luffy. What’re you up to.” He unfortunately had to ask.

 

“Oh! Ace! I was thinking about what you said last night.”

 

This was already going bad, because he couldn’t remember what he said last night. This was time for him to start making things up.

 

“What about it?”

 

“Well if the moon curses you for staying up too late, does that mean that Dadan and the bandits are up all night because they’re always grumpy?”

 

There was a vague spark of a memory of saying something like that last night. Something like the moon making you grumpy so that he could actually get to sleep last night and so he could end that conversation. He hoped that Luffy would have forgotten by now, but that fell through fast.

 

“Probably.”

 

“What do you think they do all night?” He didn’t want to answer any more questions. Especially stupid ones. And Luffy would only ask stupid questions. Maybe if he came up with something really stupid, he’d just leave him alone and stop asking questions.

 

“Well… I’m not really supposed to tell you this… but…”

 

“But what?!” He wasn’t going to lie, this was a little fun.

 

“Well Dadan told me not to tell anyone, but at night Dadan and the bandits fly though the skies and fight crime. They’ve all got super powers that they keep quiet about.”

 

“What?? No way. They steal stuff all the time! They’re not great at it, but they still steal some!” 

Maybe if he pushed this ridiculous claim more, he’d just get tired of it and go do something else and this wouldn’t be his problem anymore.

 

“Well that’s just a cover. They steal by day so that they can learn more about the other bandits. That’s why you barely see any other bandits on this mountain. Cause Dadan and the bandits use their powers to stop them during the night.” He punctuated that statement by turning his back on Luffy and crossing his arms. Hopefully that was stupid enough to get him off his back.

He dared a peek over his shoulder to see Luffy’s reaction. Hopefully he was floored by how dumb that was.

 

Luffy looked absolutely floored. Did it actually work? Did he put an end to this stupid conversation once and for all?

 

“That’s… so…” Come on, Luffy. Say its stupid. “Cool!”

 

Cool? He can’t be serious about that. That was the most outrageous thing he’s ever said. How did any of those obviously fake facts fool him so effectively?

 

“Cool?” He couldn’t help but say.

 

“Yeah! Its so cool! Do they have cool outfits and stuff?! Does Dadan suck in her stomach so it looks like she’s got big muscles?!” Luffy asked, with oblivious excitement, hopping around him so he was in front of him. This was all stupid. He was going to have to come up with something even stupider to make sure he doesn’t ask anymore.

 

“Yeah, they got gramps to sow them for them. They’re all bright colours and everything. It makes it so that Dadan looks more like a triangle like all of those superheroes you see in books. And Dogra looks like a beautiful lady.” This was going to make Luffy stop believing him for sure.

Luffy doubled over in laughter. This was it. He’d finally be free of this stupid lie.

 

“That’s funny, do you think that we could see them in action sometime?” God he believed him. How could he have possibly believed him? He was just going to have to keep saying outrageous things to make sure that he knows that he’s just messing with him.

 

“Well you can’t. Because they fight crime completely invisible.”

 

“Does that mean they have devil fruit powers?”

 

“Nope. They were just born with the ability to turn invisible. The real deal superpowers. They can all fly and turn invisible. Whenever we fight with them, they go easy on us so they don’t out themselves. How do you think they’ve lasted this long out here?”

 

“Wow….” Please for god sake please catch onto this dumb lie. There’s no way that any of this is true. Dadan and the bandits were some of the weakest people out there. There was no way that Luffy could believe that the bandits could kick his ass.

 

“Yeah, Gramps just keeps them a secret so that they don’t have to work for the government so they can keep doing whatever they want without having to deal with fighting off the marine’s best.” Now he was basically doing everything but telling him outright. Luffy had to be able to just figure it out. He was dense, but this was actually getting out of hand. He was actually starting to feel bad about leading him on like this, but he had to be able to tell that he was just messing with him.

 

“They’re stronger than even Gramps?! Woah! That’s so cool!” Luffy was practically bouncing around with how excited he was.

 

Ace actually couldn’t believe this. Luffy knew this wasn’t true. Luffy knew the only reason they were on this mountain was because Gramps strong armed Dadan into vaguely keeping an eye on them. If he wasn’t stronger than her, then they wouldn’t be on this mountain at all.

 

Wait a second. He figured it out. Luffy caught on a long time ago, and now he was just messing with him. He was just playing dumb to make Ace give in first. This was his way of winning, to get back at him for lying to him so blatantly. Well if that’s the way he wants to play it, then he could just forget it. He was just gonna keep playing hardball until Luffy finally said something about knowing that he’s bullshitting him.

 

Ace wasn’t going to give in so easily, and he knew Luffy wasn’t going to either. This was the long game now, and the first one to give in loses, and Ace wasn’t going to lose to someone like him!

 

“Yeah, they’re all way stronger than him. So strong that they just let him pretend that he’s stronger than them. And Dadan loves kids, and just pretends that we’re a hassle so that Gramps feels like he’s got all the power, so they can ask for favors from him and get money, because they’re really bad at stealing because that’s actually part of their hero’s code.”

 

“Whoa! Really! I had no idea that Dadan was strong. Especially not that strong! I bet that that’s how they got their costumes out of Gramps!”

 

“Yeah, now you’re catching on.” And he definitely didn’t forget that that was something that he had said before. He was going to have to be a lot more careful from now on. He didn’t want to get all caught up in a lie and have to admit it himself.

 

“Wow! Who would’ve guessed that they were gonna be that cool! Do you think that they’ll show me how to do any cool hero tricks?!”

 

This situation was a gift. He wasn’t expecting something like this to be given to him, but if he went through with it it’d be so funny. This was going to be so worth it. He was going to have to do this without exposing himself as being a total jackass about this.

 

“I mean you’d have to ask them, but I wouldn’t expect much. I wasn’t supposed to tell you about any of this.” Ace said, looking away to avoid eye contact, because if he made eye contact he’d absolutely lose it and this whole charade was over.

 

“But maybe you’d be able to convince them if you showed how dedicated you are by bringing home supper.”

 

“I can do that!” Luffy beamed, running off into the forest. This was going to be so funny. He couldn’t wait to see the look on all of their faces when Luffy came up to them with some beast for supper and asked them to train him to be a superhero.

 

A moment of thought went into it, and then he realized something really important. Luffy was probably going to get himself killed out there doing something stupid. And it was up to Ace as his big brother to save his stupid ass from drowning or getting eating.

 

He had no other option than to run after him and keep an eye on him himself. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

For someone that was all banged up like Luffy was, he sure seemed unconcerned about it. He was really excited about dragging this bear up to the entrance way of the bandit’s hut. He seemed so proud of himself, but Ace was going to keep his distance so he could watch this play out. But he’d stay just close enough to hear what’s being said.   
  
“Dadan! Dadan! I brought home supper for all of us!” He beamed brightly, Ace almost felt bad for what was going to happen. But this was also about him beating Luffy in this stupid game, and it was also going to be funny, and they already knew that all of them were assholes. This wasn’t going to be anyone’s fault but his own, and this was going to be the end of this stupid game when he gave up when he got embarrassed.   
  
Dadan waddled outside and looked the bear up and down. It was pretty big, and even Ace had to admit it was pretty good for Luffy standards.    
  
“Lemme guess, you just wanted us to cook it for your lazy ass.” Dadan grunted, looking over the bear that laid there.   
  
“Nope! I mean yeah I want you guys to cook it, but I want you guys to train me to fight and be strong like a superhero!” The entire area fell silent, and all eyes were on Luffy, as they stared on in disbelief. They all sorta looked at each other, then at the kid.   
  
“You want us to….what?” Dadan asked, because surely she had heard the wrong thing. Because even she knew that what Luffy just said was really stupid, and that was dumb even by Luffy standards.   
  
“Train me to be strong like a superhero like you guys! A- I mean I found out all I my own.” Luffy, being the awful liar that he was, pursed his lips at that last part. Ace didn’t care if they found out. He’s sure they knew he was a jackass since day one, there was fuck all that they could do about it now. Any hope they had in him being a completely respectable gentleman were leagues away despite Makino’s best efforts.    
  
He was expecting a look from Dadan, demanding to know what the fuck he did to the poor kid to mess him up and make him this much of an idiot, but all the bandits burst out laughing. That was the right answer to something as outlandish and stupid as what he said.    
  
Luffy stood there, staying true to his half of that old proverb of “I’m rubber your glue” as the mocking laughs bounced off of him like it was nothing. He wasn’t sure if he was impressed on how good Luffy’s acting was, or to be impressed if stuff like this didn’t actually bother him at all. Because either way, it was pretty impressive.   
  
“We aren’t superheroes, brat! That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” Dadan cackled as she clutched her sides. He had to wonder what kind of superhero she would imagine herself as, but he dismissed it as too stupid a thought to hold onto.   
  
“Yeah, but that sounds a lot like something a superhero would say to throw someone off there trail. I promise I won’t tell anyone! I’m great at keeping secrets!” A lie that Luffy managed to say with a straight face, an even more impressive feat, if Ace knew that that wasn’t something Luffy actually believed.   
  
“You’re an idiot, get your brother and get your ass inside before I change my mind about letting you share the meat.” Dadan snorted, trying to regain composure. Ace knew that they’d laugh about this some more once Luffy was gone, and probably once they got back. He kinda almost felt bad for the kid.    
  
Almost.    
  
Luffy knew better than to start a fight he couldn’t finish, yet here he was. This was an important lesson that he had to learn. And also he had to learn that he had to question things that were told to him. The world was gonna chew him up and spit him out if he didn’t learn now before he went out to sea and did something really stupid.   
  
It was a little hard not to laugh as Luffy stormed up to him, full sulk.    
  
“Dadan’s gonna share with us, but she’s not gonna teach me any of her superhero moves.” He grumbled, contorting his rubber face more into an even bigger sulk, looking more like an angry squid or octopus. It made it extra hard for him not to laugh.   
  
“I told you she probably wouldn’t, didn’t I? Besides, she’d probably train you even harder and scarier than Gramps?” This got the sulk to deflate some.   
  
“What do you think she’d do?”    
  
“I dunno. If I knew, then I’d be stronger than Gramps by now, wouldn’t I?” It wasn’t a great answer, but it was a little tempting to see how many questions he could get away with just not answering.   
  
“Hmm… I guess that makes sense… But then how do you know it’d be scarier than Gramps’s training?”   
  
“Well Gramps is strong, and he had to have gotten stronger by doing scary things like that.” He needed to put an end to this fast, before he got caught up in his own lie. “Now are we just going to stand around and wait for them to eat all the good bits?”   
  
This seemed to distract Luffy from his line of questions. His attention snapped back to the hut, before he took off running towards it. He was going to get there last, because they both knew that Ace was still the faster one, even if Luffy had food tunnel vision.   
  
When they got there, there was still some time left before it was actually time to eat. Luffy may have been completely blinded by his food thoughts, but he knew that once this was over that he was just going to go back to bothering the bandits. If he didn’t step in, he knew that there was going to be some sort of trouble. The bandits were still snickering to themselves about earlier, and Luffy had to have a breaking point somewhere. He’d just get in trouble with Gramps if some serious ass kickings got dealt out like this.   
  
It probably didn’t actually matter what he said, but he felt like he should at least try and make feel a little better about the situation. For at least the sake of the bandits, and for the sake of himself so he didn’t have to hear about it later like a million times as whines.   
  
“You know Luffy, it’s probably for the best that you got turned down.” Luffy stopped bouncing in his seat to look at Ace all offended.   
  
“I could totally handle the training! I’m not a baby! I’m strong!”    
  
“That’s not what I meant. I meant is that if you went through with it, even if you weren’t a superhero, you’d still be a hero.”   
  
“Yeah? Heroes are cool. I can be a pirate and a hero. Pirates have rules so no one can tell me I can’t.” Being a hero kinda went against everything that being a pirate was, but he didn’t really want to fight with Luffy over that, because he would never admit that he was wrong.   
  
“Well I guess that means you’ll have to share your meat.” Ace shrugged, closing his eyes, knowing that he was riling up Luffy more.   
  
“I don’t wanna share my meat! That’s dumb! If someone wants meat they should get it themselves and keeps their hands away from my meat!” Luffy huffed, probably already on his feet to raise a fuss about this fictional situation.    
  
“Well if you wanna be a hero, you gotta. That’s like rule two of hero-ing. Its right after help people.”    
  
“Well that’s a stupid rule!”   
  
“Yeah, but it’s the stupid rules of being a hero. That’s why I’m not a hero. Because I never share my meat, and I’m never gonna.” He looked over at Luffy, who seemed to be thinking this very serious situation over. Ace was starting to get more familiar with his thinking face, as Luffy seemed to be actually doing more of it lately. It was weird, but whatever.   
  
“Then I guess I’m not going to be a hero, because being a hero sounds stupid.” Luffy announced, sitting back down. “If someone wants meat, then they can get it themselves! I’m not gonna share my meat with anyone ever!”

  
Good. He was glad that this situation was all taken care of. This was hopefully the last to hear of this.   



	4. Chapter 4

Another night had fallen, and it was another night where Ace found himself waiting for a stupid question. It was too quiet for this to be anything but. He knew by this point what was coming. There was nothing left to do but to lay here and wait.

 

But the silence stayed, and he was faced with a choice. Either he faced this dumb question, or he could go to sleep and have Luffy wake him up later for this dumb thought in his head. Both seemed equally as awful, but there was one that was slightly less awful.

 

With a sigh, he’s made his choice, and he’s might as well deal with this now, because Luffy was always the worst when it came to waking people up. The sooner this was over, the sooner he could actually get some sleep.

 

“What is it, Luffy. I thought I told you that the moon was watching over you and got mad when you stayed up late like this. Let’s get this over quick so we don’t get cursed.” Hopefully if Luffy remembered that lie, and he could make that magic happen twice. It was a long shot, because it never worked that way, but it was worth a shot.

 

“Well it’s kinda about the moon.” That was a bad start, but there was no going back at this point. He made his bed and now he had to lie in it. “If the moon is a big eye that looks down on us to make sure we’re sleeping like we’re supposed to, then what are stars? Cause they kinda shine like the moon, but they’re all little so they couldn’t see anything, right?” 

 

This was another question on how was he supposed to know? Did he look like someone who ever went to a school or anything like that? Well now he had to think of something to get this over. 

 

“Well, if the moon is an eye, what do you think the stars are?” Maybe he could make this work somehow. 

 

“Well, they kinda look when you spit when you talk and it sprays all over someone and it lands in just like little dots on someone’s face and shirt.”

 

“So it’s probably that, you think?”

 

“Probably.”

 

“Who spat up there? Who could’ve even spit up there?”

 

“I dunno, someone good at spitting.” Honestly Luffy was better at this than him. This might’ve been stupidest thing ever. He was pretty sure that this was some next level nonsense, and he wasn’t ready for this. 

 

“Luffy, do you think we live in like snow globe or something? Spit wouldn’t stay up there. And it’d be all dry and gross by now. Someone would have to be spitting up there like every night.” Honestly, he couldn’t even pretend that that was even remotely made sense. This was all made up, but he had to make this stupid game at least have some limits. 

 

“Well can you prove that it’s not?” 

 

“I can. If someone spat on the top of the world, then it would like really tiny. You wouldn’t even see it. Even if there was like a big glass wall, it wouldn’t even be seeable.”

 

“Well then what do you think it is?”

 

“It’s not what I think about it, it’s what I know is right.” Time for some quick thinking, and time for some advanced stupidity. “Well what the stars are, are actually baby moons.”

 

“Baby moons?” It sounded so stupid now that it was said out loud, and when he actually thought about it. But this is what he said, and now he had to stick with it.

 

“Yeah, they’re baby moons.”

 

“Well how is that more real than what I said. Because I bet someone could spit that much.” 

 

“First of all, no one could spit that much. Second, that’s stupid. Third, it wouldn’t light up like that. Fourth, shut up, I’m explaining this. The moon is bright, and so are the stars. The stars are little, so stars are baby moons.”

 

There was silence, as Luffy thought it over. This kinda felt like a bad sign, but there was no other options. This was brought upon himself by this by the whole moon thing in the first place. He had accepted his fate. This was his life now.

 

“So does that mean that one day the sky’s gonna be full of moons one day?” This was a thought he wasn’t ready for. He wasn’t sure why, but he wasn’t. This was just so ridiculous that he couldn’t actually picture it and he had to honestly stop himself from snickering at how dumb that looked to him. This was one that he absolutely needed to have him believe. This one was the best thing that had ever happened.

 

“Yes. One day all those moons are going to grow up big and strong, and they’ll be watching and cursing people that stay up too late. One day people are going to be absolutely miserable when they stay up all night because there’ll be so many moons.”

 

“Wow, really?” 

 

“Luffy, I’m your big brother, would I lie to you?”

 

There was a silence, as Luffy thought this over. Ace kicked him in the side.

 

“You’re a brat, you know that. Now go to sleep before I kick you out of the treehouse. Don’t think those baby moons will forget you and your bad sleep habits. They’ll keep a close eye on you so the moment they’re big enough and you’re up late they’ll all curse you.”

 

“They can actually remember all that?”

 

“They remember everything Luffy. Thats how they know to keep an eye out for people like you, because you and your crusade against sleep drive them mad.” 

 

There was another moment of silence as Luffy thought over this new tidbit of information.

 

“I guess I should do that.”

 

“Yeah, you should.”

 

How many more times could he do this trick work. He was on borrowed time, and he needed to use this as many times as he could. So he didn’t mess this chance, these were all he was going to have until he came up with something else.


	5. Chapter 5

 

Like all trips down to Windmill, they were both on edge. They didn’t want to deal with that whole mess, they just wanted to get to Party’s so they can get Makino’s great cooking. But it they were going to have to walk through town to get there, and they were probably going to run across that old fart. And he was going to yell at them to get them to be marines and not pirates so they weren’t a shame to the village.

 

And he was always so angry and annoying, and none of them wanted to be in that situation. It was just so awkward, because they all knew none of this was going to change but he kept doing it anyways. No one wanted to be there, but Mayor Woop Slap always felt the need to go out of his way to be an awkward jerk.

 

It was good practice for him and Luffy to do stealth practice. It was pretty low stakes but all it was always awful to get caught. It was great practice because the last time three times they went in there they hadn’t been caught. They were pretty good at it so far. But there was always that looming threat of getting caught.

 

Today him and Luffy were going pretty good today in his opinion. So far they hadn’t even seen a trace of him. They were in the clear.

 

They leaned over and were getting ready to dive to the next cover, when a weak wrinkled hand grabbed them. It wasn’t so bad in that it hurt, but it did startle them and they did scream a little. But then they groaned as they turned around to face the Mayor.

 

“That is no way to talk to your elders young men. Maybe if you learned some respect, you boys would change your mind about all this pirate nonsense. Then you’d bring some respect to our village instead of shame it.” He started, before going out on his long rant about children these days having no respect or something, and how they were three generations of shameful, and maybe if they could get their acts together they could make a change for the better and stop bringing shame to all of them in their village.

 

Or something like that Mayor Woop Slap always had the same rant to tell them, and honestly he didn’t care any more. He heard this rant a million times before, and it helped no one. Nothing was going to change, and only time was going to be wasted. It really should have been obvious that neither of them were listening, because they both had a finger in their nose, and what he had to say wasn’t really all that interesting to begin with. 

 

They should have known better than to do that, because it just sent him on another more heated rant about how they needed to listen because he was trying to impart on the wisdom or something, and overall it was just getting worse. Luffy and Ace looked at each other, before just deciding to run. They could easily outrun him, and it would be the quickest way to lose him, no matter how well he knew the town.

 

They heard him yell louder as they took off, but the choice had been made. They were just going to run to Party’s bar and then hope he didn’t follow, or hope Makino was there to tell him to lay off and be nice to them. There was a reason that she was one of the nicest people that they knew.

 

When they got to Party’s bar, Makino was working on something in the backroom, but they knew she’d be out soon so they just got comfy at the bar.

 

“Hey Ace, do you think that Mayor Woop Slap is like that cause he never sleeps and the moon hates him?” Ace couldn’t help but snort at the question. 

 

“I don’t think even the moon could make someone that grumpy and crotchety.”

 

“So what do you think it is?” 

 

Now he could answer the boring truthful answer of “he’s had to deal with three generations of our family, that’s probably enough to leave anyone permanently pissed off” but he could think of a better answer.

 

“You see, when Mayor Woop Slap was a young man, there was a big storm and a lady asked if she could get shelter from the storm. And he said no. So then she revealed that she was a sea witch, and that this had all been a test, and that he had failed. The Mayor begged for her mercy, but she was already too mad to listen. So she took away his happiness forever. And because of that, he has chosen to only be grumpy and crotchety.” Ace explained. Luffy listened, completely mesmerized by this tale Ace had pulled out of his ass.

 

“Wow, really?” It never ceased to amaze him just how much nonsense Luffy believed. He was going to have to make sure that he was really strong, because he wasn’t sure if this kid would last a second otherwise, because this didn’t seem to be changing any.

 

“Yeah, of course it’s true.”  It was obviously a lie, but Luffy seemed to like it, and it wasn’t like it was a lie that mattered. He wouldn’t tell him lies about things that actually mattered. He wasn’t a complete monster after all.

 

“I didn’t even know that sea witches were a thing.”

 

“Yeah, you have to watch out for them. They’ll get you if you’re really being a brat and curse away your happiness, just like they did with Mayor Woop Slap.” A lie, but hopefully it’d help keep Luffy out of trouble. 

 

And besides, this was all just a little fun at the Mayor’s expense, and he wasn’t here. And they were kids so it wasn’t even that big a deal.

 

A wrinkled old hand grabbed their shoulders from behind and turned them around. Immediately they were filled with dread. They already knew who that was the moment the hand touched their shoulders.

 

“What’s this about me being cursed by a sea witch? That’s absolute nonsense I can so feel emotions other than anger and annoyance. You’re so rude to your elders, this disrespect is just unbelievable. It’s just that you boys are wasting away your youth on foolish pirate games and wasting all your potential. When I was your age I was toiling away to be a proper gentleman, not some unruly pirate.” 

 

The rant had begun. Now all they could do was to hope for Makino to come back soon, so that she could set them free from this curse that they had unleashed upon themselves. It was just a joke, why couldn’t he understand?

 


	6. Chapter 6

Mayor Woop Slap was still well into his lecture, and both Luffy and Ace were just so checked out by this point that neither of them knew what was even being said. The only reason that they were still here, was that Makino made the best food in probably the whole world. But even then it was tempting to just leave. They could always come back later and get food then.

 

But at the same time, both of them were too stubborn to give in. They had come to far and neither of them were the quitter type. Neither of them were the kind to just lie and pretend like they were giving up. They were both really bad liars anyways, so that was probably part of it. Like a big part of it.

 

Things started to seem grim, as Woop Slap never seemed to run out of grievances that he had with them, or with Gramps, or with whoever Luffy’s dad was who he guessed was a troublemaker? He didn’t actually care because sometimes knowing who your dad was was the worst and he doesn’t want to expose Luffy to a shitty dad. And Luffy didn’t really seem to care, so why should he?

 

Ace was starting to feel like he was the one cursed by a sea witch, and that some awful witch jealous of how great his mom was cursed him as revenge for her being so great and now he was stuck here forever with an old man with never ending grievances.

 

But finally, like a beacon of light in the dark, Makino came out from the backroom. Like always, she was a blessing. Her expression went from happy, to as stern as she normally gets. 

 

“Mayor Woop Slap, are you giving those boys a hard time?” She asked, putting down the rag she had brought with her aside and walking over to the counter.

 

“I am doing no such thing. I’m just trying to teach these boys some manners and some important lessons on being contributing members of society. They can’t just go sneaking around like your common thug.” Woop Slap protested, forgetting that they were raised by bandits and pirates.

 

“Well it sounds to me like they were just playing a little game, they are still boys you know.” For some reason, this really struck deep with Ace. He wasn’t a boy anymore, he was over halfway there to being old enough to go out and be a pirate.

 

“I’m not a boy. I’m almost eleven. I’m basically a man!” 

 

“Yeah! And I’m almost eight!” Luffy added on, making his argument sound childish even though he had a very solid point. He made him look like a fool in front of Makino.

 

“Don’t listen to him, he’s just a kid who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

 

“Well if I’m a kid then YOU’RE a kid!” Luffy argued. 

 

Makino giggled a little. There came some pride in knowing that she agreed with him, and that Luffy was being childish. He was lucky to have such a good big brother as him, because he wasn’t going to rub his nose in the fact that he was wrong and that he was just making himself look like a little kid because of it.

 

The Mayor scoffed and started hobbling off, as he did.

 

“Fine, I’ll let it slide this time. But I better not catch them sneaking around like that. It’s very suspicious!” Good, because next time you’re not going to catch them, because they’ll be way better at stealth. Like ninjas. Better than ninjas.

 

“Now, how about I get you boys something to eat. It must’ve been a long walk down the mountain, and you boys must be hungry.”

 

“I’m always hungry!” Luffy cheerfully answered, getting Makino to giggle again. It was amazing how good Luffy was at making her laugh. Though it must’ve just been that she was being nice and laughing to make him happy. That sounded more true. 

 

She ruffled their hair and made her way to the kitchen. Ace found himself watching her cook. She was way better at it than anyone he had ever seen before, but to be fair the only other cooks he saw were bandits and him and his brothers, and calling them cooks was wildly incorrect.

 

But he was so caught up in watching her cook, that he didn’t even notice Luffy leaning in with a stupid dumb look on his face. 

 

“You like her.” He could immediately feel his face burn up with embarrassment.

 

“You like her too! What the hell are you even talking about!?”

 

“No you like like her.” Luffy kept teasing, his stupid rubber face looking stupider every moment it stayed all smug and stupid.

 

“No I only think she’s nice and pretty!”

 

“Sounds like you like like her.”

  
“No, because there’s a very good reason that she’s so nice and pretty!” He looked over his shoulder to make sure Makino wasn’t listening, because this was embarrassing. It still looked like she was cooking, and she hadn’t been paying attention, so he was pretty sure he was in the clear. He could continue on with thinking up a lie, and covering all tracks of this.

 

“Well Makino is obviously half mermaid.”

 

“A mermaid?” Luffy asked, somehow not knowing what those were.

 

“Yeah, they’re part fish and part human, and they’re known all through the sea for being really pretty and really nice. That’s why I know that Makino is half mermaid.” Luffy seemed to have stopped paying attention, taking a napkin and the pencil that Makino used to take orders, and was drawing something.

 

He held up a picture of a fish that looked like it had legs. 

 

“So a mermaid looks like this? Shishishi.” Ace could only respond by smacking him on the head to maybe knock some sense into him. Or maybe knock the smartass out, because it was one of the two, and violence was the only option.

 

“You did it backwards and you know it! Who would think the fish part was beautiful!”

 

“I dunno Ace, you’re the one talking about beautiful fish so I guess a lot of people.” Luffy said, sticking out his tongue and continuing to be a pain in the ass.

 

“No it’s the human part that’s pretty! You’ll understand when you’re basically an adult. Like me.”   
  


“You’re only ten, that’s still a kid, idiot.”

 

“No it’s not! Just because people don’t think you’re an adult doesn’t mean I’m not an adult. You’re the idiot here!” Honestly, he was starting to wonder if Luffy was just selectively dense, or if he was just a difficult asshole. Because he wanted to say both.

 

He was about to throw another punch at the idiot, because he was rubber and he wouldn’t actually get hurt by something like that and just needed his idiot brain rattled around a bit to not be as much of a dumbass as he was before, when two plates were set in front of them.

 

“Here you go. Lunch for my two favorite men.” Makino was so nice that she was actually letting Luffy pretend that he wasn’t a boy. That just went to show how nice she was. Because Ace probably wouldn’t call him a man until he was at least seventeen. Maybe even older.

 

“Thanks Makino!” They both said, chowing down on Makino’s amazing cooking.

 

While they were doing so, Makino picked up the drawing Luffy had drawn on the napkin. 

 

“Oh! What a lovely mermaid! Luffy, do you mind if I hang this up?” Makino said, obviously just trying to be nice.

 

“Sure! Ace said it was bad though because that’s not what mermaids look like.” And here Luffy was, throwing him under the bus.

 

“I only said that because I can draw a better one!”

 

“Well I’d love to have both in the bar.”

 

“Great! As soon as I’m done eating I’ll draw the best mermaid ever.”


	7. Chapter 7

He could tell something was up with Luffy. He didn’t know what Luffy had been up to all night, but he knew that he had to have stayed up late, if not up the whole thing. Luffy was clumsy, but this was really knocking it out of the park, even by Luffy standards. This had to be at least the fourth time he pulled him out of the water this hour. And he had a funny feeling that this wasn’t going to be the last.

 

“I didn’t need you to help me, I could’ve gotten myself out of there myself.” Luffy huffed. The only thing worse than dealing with a clumsy Luffy, was an ungrateful one.

 

“You mean out of the water? The water that makes you useless because of your devil fruit powers? Yeah, I’m so sure.” Ace rolled his eyes at the fussy child, debating on just sending him back to let the bandits deal with this whole mess so he wouldn’t have to keep diving into the water after him.

 

“I could so have! I just had to wait for a crocodile to come close.”

 

“No then it’d be me pulling you out of a crocodile, because you’d just be drowning inside a crocodile then poop.” But could he even send him back without having to drag him there himself. That’d really suck because that was prime hunting time wasted on basically babysitting. 

 

“I wouldn’t be poop! I’m too strong!”

 

“You would because that’s what happens when you get eaten, idiot.”

 

“I’m not the idiot! You’re the idiot!” Luffy kept arguing.

 

“I’m not the one who-” Ace sighed a frustrated sigh, running both hands down his face. If only Sabo were here. He was the one that was good at dealing with these situations. Right now Ace just kinda wanted to put Luffy right back into the water so he could see how good his crocodile plan really was.

 

But he was going to have to be a grown up. Someone in this situation was going to have to, and it certainly wasn’t Luffy. And it really sucked being in this situation.

 

“If you’re not going to behave, then you’re just going to get in the way and you’ll have to go back to the bandits and not go hunting.” He felt more like a dad than a brother. Was this how Sabo felt all the time? Because this really sucked. 

 

“I’m not the one being a big huge smelly jerk!” 

 

Yeah that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Luffy had the option of not being a prick and he chose the wrong option. Now he didn’t get a say in whether or not he was going to be drug back to the bandits. 

 

“Yeah, now you’re gonna go back to the bandits. You’re gonna be their problem now.”

 

“You’re going to be their problem now.” Luffy parroted back, as if that were some sort of biting insult that he had just brilliantly made up just then. 

 

“This is why you’re not supposed to stay up all night. Now you’re all cranky and extra useless.”

 

“I’m not cranky or useless! And I didn’t stay up all night either!” Luffy argued, his lips pursing at the obvious lie.

 

“You can’t fool me, because I know.” Ace crossed him arms. “And not just because you’re acting like you got cursed by the mood to act all grumpy.”

 

“No you don’t. Maybe you stayed up all night and you’re the cranky one. Maybe you were the one that got cursed by the moon because you’re grumpy always. How do I know you’ve ever slept?” 

 

“Ugh, you’re such a pain in the ass.” Ace groaned. Why did he have to deal with all Luffy’s stupidity. Why was there no one else but him. He refrained himself from just beating him up to maybe knock some sense into him. He had to be like Sabo now. Maybe not all the way like Sabo, but just a little more Sabo like.  “Well I can prove you stayed up all last night.” 

 

“Nuh un, no you can’t.” Luffy probably wasn’t going to believe anything he was going to say at this point, and fight it the whole way down. So he could be as silly as he wanted with these answers, because none of this was going to matter anyways.

 

“I can so, because when you lie, your eyes turn blue.”

 

There was silence.

 

“Nuh un, no they don’t.”

 

“It’s true. When you lie your eyes turn blue. I can’t believe you didn’t know. It’s one of those basic life facts.” Was this actually working? He couldn’t actually believe this.

 

Luffy leaned back over the water and looked at his reflection. 

 

“I didn’t stay up all night.” There was silence as he stared down the water. “See my eyes didn’t change colour so I’m not lying.”

 

What a little shit. Now he was going to make him believe this stupid lie if he’s going to go above and beyond to be an asshole about this.

 

“Well duh. You don’t see your own eyes change colour. Only the person you’re lying to can see it when your eyes change colour, and you’re not lying to yourself because you already know you were up all night.”

 

Luffy was quiet, as he thought it over.

 

“So does that mean that if you lie your eyes will turn blue?”

 

“Of course.” Not. But Luffy didn’t have to know that. This was more about keeping him out of trouble, because he was being a serious pain in the ass and he was really reaching his limit. 

 

“I guess I’ll got to the bandits then…” Luffy sulked.

 

“Good.”

 

“I’m not gonna like it though.”

 

“That’s not my problem.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

Sometimes when you pull your devil fruit user brother out of the lake, you both just have to lay there and think about your life and your choices. Like how did it all come to this, and why was he now the sole person responsible for the idiot who he was almost convinced was throwing themselves into the water on purpose, because there had to be a limit to how many times one could throw themselves into the water.

 

“Why the hell do you want to be in the water so much?” Ace had to ask. It was the only thing he could do from actually screaming at this point. He’d accept a stupid answer at this point. He didn’t care any more. Just some explanation. No matter how stupid.

 

“I don’t, but that’s where crocodiles and fish live, and both those things are yummy so I wanna eat them. Not my fault the edges are all slippery.” He takes it back, that was too stupid for him. 

 

“They get less shitty shoes. We’re in town like every other day stealing. We could steal some not flipflops so you wouldn’t fall in the water. You- You have arms made of rubber! Just reach up and grab a branch and pull yourself out before you’re all the way in the water! You stretch your stupid rubber arms for everything but that one thing!!” Ace threw his arms up in the air, unable to keep himself from getting animated over this dumb oversight that they both somehow missed. He can’t believe he just thought of that now. This was stupid, the answer was always right there. How were they both so stupid to not notice.

 

This was like a Luffy level oversight. He can’t believe that he slipped up that bad. Now he’s just embarrassed be that was so easy but he missed it. And for so long too.

 

“You say that just because you don’t have devil fruit powers so it looks easy to you. It’s really hard to do when you’re falling.” Luffy pouted, trying to make an excuse for himself and failing. 

 

“Well maybe you just need to try harder.” Ace stuck out his tongue.

 

“I am! It’s not my fault that the moment I’m in water I can’t make my devil fruit work!” Luffy huffed, crossing his arms and pouting.

 

“Well if you don’t find a way around it, you’re gonna have a really hard time being a pirate. I won’t be around to save you from falling in the ocean.” Ace warned, hoping that that would maybe be enough to get Luffy to find ways around this and so he wouldn’t have to worry about the idiot the whole time he was out at sea waiting to hear about him in the news or see a bounty picture for him.

 

“Well I just won’t fall in then.” 

 

“You can’t manage that now, how the hell are you going to just stop doing it?”

 

“I just won’t.” Luffy decided, as if just willing it would make it happen. 

 

Kinda felt like he wasn’t going to have to worry about the kid out at sea, because he was probably going to drown in the river the moment Ace left. Why was this kid so stressful? And why was being a big brother so hard.

 

He was getting ready to yell at him for being an idiot, and to actually do something about this, and not just let this problem solve itself, because letting this problem solve itself meant that the idiot would drown so that he’d never have to be saved again because there was no one left to save, when Luffy cut him off.

 

“Why do devil fruit powers stop in water anyways? They’re fruit, and fruit love water.” Luffy wondered, looking to Ace for an actual answer. Which was unfortunate for both of them, because Luffy’s issue was both dumb, and possibly the most logical thing you could say about a fruit that turned your body into rubber. 

 

He doubted that anyone had an actual answer for this, and there certainly wasn’t anyone on the island that could answer it, because there wasn’t anyone smart enough on the island to actually know. There wasn’t a lot of travellers to the island that didn’t have their head up their ass, and he had personally put the fear in too many of the towns folk so they wouldn’t give him a good answer anyways. 

 

Which only left the option of bullshitting an answer, because Luffy was going to ask that question until he went insane. The biggest downside of having a rubber baby brother was not that that was a tongue twister, but that you couldn’t hit him really good and get him to stop being an idiot. He just kept talking and bounced back into place. 

 

“Isn’t it obvious? The sea just hates devil fruit users. If you don’t learn to avoid being in water now, then you’re gonna be doomed when you’re a pirate and you’re trying to find a crew. Because until you have a crew, there’s gonna be no one to save you from drowning.” Ace said, hoping that Luffy would learn at least something to help him out. Like maybe actually using his devil fruit powers to save himself instead of just letting death happen.

 

“Why does the sea hate devil fruit users?” Well the good news was, Luffy was starting to at least question some of what he said. The bad news is that he picked a time when it worked better for Ace if he didn’t question what he said. Now he had to come up with some bullshit answer to this question now too.

 

“Isn’t it obvious? The sea’s just a bunch of dumb water, and then there’s people like you who are out there being human and rubber, or whatever else dumb powers are out there. Even if you have stupid powers, it’s still a lot cooler than the sea. It’s just a bunch of dumb water you can’t even drink.”  Even if this could be misinterpreted as him calling Luffy and his dumb rubber powers cool, he was still going to take a shot at the sea, because salt water was stupid and he knew that salt water was going to be a pain in his ass later when he became a pirate.

 

“So the sea’s just jealous of my powers?”

 

“Sure.” At least Luffy seemed pleased with that answer. “But don’t think that means you can impress it any. If you don’t learn at least some way to save yourself from drowning, you’re gonna get your dumb ass killed.” Please let it at least stick a little this time. He wanted to stop having to jump in after him to save him, and he doubted anyone else would be around after he left. 

 

“Okay! But only cause you seem so worried. Shishishi!” Luffy mocked, getting a well earned smack on the head, regardless of the fact that he wouldn’t be able to feel it.

 

“Shut up! I wasn’t!”

 


	9. Chapter 9

 

They had always really had a rule about nighttime adventures. It just didn’t really matter until now, because they never really did it because they were always either too tired to do it or it was too dark to actually get anything done.

 

It kinda started back when it was just Ace and Sabo, but that was mostly because anyone with money wasn’t out wandering the streets. It was just moneyless thugs trying to do the same thing that they were trying to do. There wasn’t really any reason to do it, but it kinda just ended up an unwritten rule, and one of the few that they had. It just now had the extra benefit of not having to worry about his weiner of a little brother getting himself killed or something while they were sleeping.

 

But tonight he had a funny feeling in his stomach that Luffy was out when he wasn’t supposed to be. It was annoying, because he was actually worrying about him a little. The air just didn’t have the same weight to it that it did when Luffy was gearing up to ask something stupid. Because there wasn’t even the quiet sounds of him squirming around in his blanket as he thought about whatever dumb thing he was thinking about. This was just a deafening silence.

 

Looked like he was going to have to open his eyes and see what was wrong here. Because there had to be something. A brief thought of opening his eyes to see Luffy there and just staring up at the ceiling went through his head, and he really hoped that Luffy was just missing. Ace wasn’t equipped to deal with feelings and it was too late to get anyone who did a better with it. 

 

But then thoughts of all the possible trouble Luffy could have gotten himself into at this hour also made themself well known. The idiot couldn’t stay out of the river in the daytime hours, what were the odds that he would just end up walking right into it. 

 

He had to wonder what he did to deserve being the one stuck looking after Luffy. Maybe this is what he gets for being Gold Roger’s son. Maybe he was just destined to never get a good night’s sleep ever. Maybe this was what all those idiots with death wishes meant when they said any kid of Gold Roger would beg for death.

 

He opened his eyes and saw what he already knew. Luffy wasn’t under his blanket. He swore that kid was just going out of his way to be a pain in the ass. Actively being as difficult as he could be just to spite him for some reason. 

 

Well he had to get up. He was supposed to be the one with the death wish, not Luffy. Ace wasnèt going to blame him for not knowing that that role was already taken, because it was probably for the best that he didn’t know about his situation. But that was still no reason for that idiot to go out and do something stupid even by Luffy standards.

 

He had just gotten up and he was getting ready to leave the treehouse, when he saw something rush in and trip him, sending him to the floor. He was caught off guard, but he was quick to get to his feet and growl. He didn’t have his pipe on him, but whatever it was that just broke in was going to be sorry it even tried to start shit. He still had his fists, and that was all he needed.

 

That was until he heard Luffy yawn an over the top yawn, and his brain could actually catch up and see what was actually there. It was Luffy, doing a bad job pretending that he was there the whole time and Ace didn’t just trip over him rushing back to bed. 

 

“Ace? What’re you still doing up? We aren’t supposed to be up and having adventures this late at night.” Luffy lied. He couldn’t really see too well, but he could kinda see the vague outline of pursed lips. And he also sounded like he was lying. Luffy was as bad at lying as he was at finding them. And it was almost insulting that he thought that he was actually going to fall for it.

 

“Well I was going to find my dumbass brother, but I’m glad he hasn’t forgotten the rules, and that he hasn’t made me spend the whole night looking for him because he went and did something stupid.” Ace growled, knowing that Luffy wouldn’t be able to see the glare he was giving, but hopefully he’d feel it a little.

 

“Well I didn’t leave the treehouse. I’ve been here sleeping the whole time.”

 

“I’m not stupid, Luffy. Stop lying to me and stop sneaking out and making this my problem.”

 

“How do you know I’m lying? You can’t see my eyes. I’m covering them and everything. For all you know I was just sleeping here all quiet and you didn’t know.” Luffy said, like a smug little brat. 

 

“Well other than the fact that if you weren’t guilty you wouldn’t cover your eyes, there’s something even bigger happening here. I’ll always know when you’re lying to me about stuff like this, because I’m your big brother, and I’m always going to know.” He wasn’t going to lie, what he said was a little embarrassing. But he was tired, and his filter might not’ve been on all the way.

 

“Why would you know stuff like that?”   
  


“Because it’s a big brother’s job to make sure his little brother is safe. And until you can prove otherwise, I’m the one stuck looking after you. I can’t keep an eye on you if you keep wandering off like this doing stupid stuff because you think you’re capable of taking care of yourself.” That might’ve come out more bluntly caring than he meant, but he didn’t actually care anymore. He was tired and he said what he said. 

 

“I can take care of myself! I’m plenty strong!”

 

“You get yourself in trouble when you can see things. I don’t need to worry about you wandering in the dark like that. I only- “ He stopped himself. “Fine. You can do whatever. You’re not going to listen anyways.”

 

He was frustrated. Even his best efforts to care for Luffy seemed to fall flat. No matter what he did it was never enough, and Luffy was always one step ahead of himself to get himself in trouble. He was just going to go to bed.

 

“Ace-” Luffy started. Ace looked at him and the dim light of the moon where he sat. “-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you worry like that.” He could hear the guilt in Luffy’s voice. And it was kinda like listening to a kicked puppy and he hated it. 

 

“Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

 


	10. Chapter 10

There was an incident earlier that day and he had gotten kinda badly banged up. It was a nasty bite on his shoulder, and it tore it up pretty badly. He didn’t remember much after giving that bear a solid whack, but after that he was drawing a blank. 

 

Ace made an attempt to sit up, but then he got light headed and found it was a better idea to just stay down. He didn’t think it was that bad a wound, but it kinda felt like he might’ve underestimated it. Maybe he should check it out to see how bad it really was.

 

“Don’t mess with it, brat.” Dadan grunted, reaching over and slapping his hand away from the bandages. And then again when he went to try again.

 

“It can’t be that bad. I just want to see.”

 

“Like hell you’re gonna see. Do you know how hard it was to patch your arm up? I’m not going to let you just tear it open again.” She squacked, forcing him back down. “And stop moving. You’re just going to make yourself worse, dumbass.” 

 

“Careful, you’re starting to sound like you care.” Ace mocked knowing that they both knew that she did care, even if she didn’t act like it, looking over the bandages. He wasn’t going to look for some spot to pick at the wrapping, but to see just how bad it had to be. It felt like it was a lot longer than he remembered. 

 

“I don’t I jus- STOP PICKING AT YOUR BANDAGE!” Again, she slapped his hand away. 

 

“I wasn’t! I’m just looking at it!”

 

“Oh my god you brats are going to be end of me.” Dadan groaned, her face in her hands for a moment before she slide her hands down so she could look at him again. “Would it kill you brats to be careful for one goddamn day? You’re basically in here every other day with some other stupid injury. How long is it going to take you brats to get in the habit of only fighting with just two people? It’s not gonna fuckin kill yeah to practice a little more together before you both go charging back into the forest.” 

 

“Shut the hell up! You don’t know what it’s like!” He was going to get up to properly yell at her, but it was either the fact he was still lightheaded, or the fact that Dadan pushed him back down, but he was back down on the matt. 

  
  


“Could you at least pretend like you care about your own ass for five goddamn seconds?” She said, doubting his powers of self loathing. “Fine. If you’re gonna insist you’re fine, I’m sending in the other brat.” 

 

Like that was a threat. He dealt with Luffy all the time. This wasn’t any worse than dealing with him with no sleep. She should know that this wouldn’t change anything. Actually this might’ve just been her seeing that he was fine and that he’s currently one of the best people at dealing with the dumbass.

 

Dadan got up and left, giving him some time to examine his bandages, he followed it down, and then ended up and something unexpected. Sure he was kinda just overall sore, but he thought that was just because he had to deal with Luffy dragging him back. Because that would’ve been obvious.

 

But this caught him completely off guard. There were bandages wrapped around his stomach too. He touched them and winced. That bear bastard must’ve gotten him really good at some point. He couldn’t piece together when, but his midsection must’ve been really messed up to be wrapped up like this. 

 

His thoughts were cut off by the door opening and the sound of Luffy’s face bouncing off the floor. And then the door closed. He stared at the boy who was uncharacteristically quiet, but that was to be expected as his face was planted in the floor. Ace kinda noticed his shoulders shaking a little.

 

There was a chance that he might’ve been crying, but he was only really sure when he watched him peel his messy face off the floor, still connected to it by a string of snot. Already Ace was wincing because he knew that Luffy was going to attach to him and it was going to both hurt and be really gross. 

 

Like some sort of psychic, he was right. And his wailing brother came running to hugged him tightly. And he was right, it did hurt, and it was really gross. He already knew there was no use protesting the hug. Luffy had a great grip and Ace was down a usable arm. He lost that fight before he even tried.

 

“Luffy what the hell! You’re getting snot all over me!” Ace complained, accepting the hug but not the gross face. Luffy fixed this problem by wiping it on his arm, only smearing the gross he had to touch.

 

“I-I thought you w-were going to die.” Luffy sobbed, clinging on harder to him. 

 

Now Dadan’s words about being more careful were starting to sink in. He couldn’t help but think about Luffy and how much he hated being alone. He was so caught up in getting Luffy ready to stand on his own feet, that he wasn’t paying attention to himself. If something happened to him, there’d be no one to take care of Luffy now, and on top of that he’d be all alone. He knew he could be selfish, but this was really something else.

 

“Well stop crying, because I’m never gonna die. Especially not to some dumb bear.” He grumbled, pushing Luffy’s head off of him.

 

“You.. You promise?” Luffy asked, his voice small and wavering. That wasn’t how Luffy should sound at all. He needed to sound loud and obnoxious. Ace couldn’t help but feel a little bad about this, because this was his fault.

 

“Of course. I’m never going to die. No matter what.” He flicked Luffy between the eyes. “ I have a stupid younger brother to take care of. I can’t die.”

 

The flick got Luffy to let go and rub between his eyes.   
  
“No matter what?”

 

“No matter what.”


End file.
